At least Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you to our May 5th, 2026 city council meeting. and I ask that you please silence all electronic devices. Um, and I'm going to pause and do mine so that you have a chance to do yours. Okay. Um, this evening I'd like to recognize that we have some Elon University students in attendance with us. Welcome. Um, we are glad to have you with us this evening. They are students in our former city manager um, Craig Honeyut's class. Um so so welcome to city council. >> Okay. Um and this evening council member Dana Bigalow will offer our invocation. >> Pray with me. Lord, as we gather to discuss city business, I invite you u your presence into the meeting. Thank you for all the ways you have continued to keep us, protect us, and watch your watch over us. Amen. >> Yes. >> Amen. And this evening, um, I'd like to recognize public works director Gary Smith to, uh, receive a proclamation, but to share a few words before I read that proclamation. >> Thank you, Mayor. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you uh, for recognizing National Public Works Week. Um, our staff, we um, we truly are are thankful for, uh, what we're able to do each week. Uh we enjoy our our jobs and enjoy the people that we work with. We have a lot of our public works leaders here tonight and I've asked them to be here to take advantage of this opportunity and uh I'd like to have those people come up here now if they would. Mr. Mike Nun, transportation. Amy Ratland, city engineer. Have Michelle Groen, our assistant public works director. Gilbert English, he's our equipment services director. And Alan Warren, our building services director. and and I invite you all to receive this proclamation as the city receives the proclamation. So the city of Burlington, North Carolina proclamation in recognition of National Public Works Week May 17 through 23, 2026. Whereas public works services provided in our community are an integral part of our citizens everyday lives. And whereas the support of an understanding and informed citizenry is vital to the efficient operation of public works systems and programs such as water, sewers, streets and highways, public buildings and solid waste collection. And whereas the health, safety, and comfort of this community greatly depends on these facilities and services. And whereas the quality and effectiveness of these facilities as well as their planning, design and construction is vitally dependent upon the efforts and skill of public work officials. And whereas the efficiency of the qualified and dedicated personnel who staff public works departments is materially influenced by the people's attitude and understanding of the importance of the work they perform. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennet, and the Burlington City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17 through 23, 2026 as National Public Works Week in the city of Burlington, North Carolina, and call upon all citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in providing our public works and to recognize the comp contributions which public works officials make every day to our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life this the fifth day of May 2026 and I have signed the proclamation. So thank you sh Before moving on to our code of ethics, just a point of privilege, right? Before moving on to our code of ethics, our council would like to issue an additional proclamation this evening. May 3rd through May 9th is professional municipal clerks week and Burlington has two of the finest. >> Yes. >> And um this was not an easy task to pull off without you knowing. >> Thank you. >> You should thank your city manager. Um so at at this time I invite Beverly Smith and Haley Burgess to please come forward to the podium. I have said to Beverly and Haley in the few months that I have been mayor, I did not know what my life was missing without them in it. And I believe I wholeheartedly feel that way as I think many many people in this room feel and who work in this building feel that way as well. So this evening we would like to issue a proclamation to formally recognize the profession the work of professional municipal clerks. City of Burlington, North Carolina proclamation in recognition of professional municipal clerks week May 3 through May 9th 2026. Whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is a timehonored and essential part of local government serving communities throughout the world. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is one of the oldest public service positions integral to the foundation and continuity of local governance. And whereas professional municipal clerks are committed to upholding principles of neutrality, impartiality, and equal service to all members of the community. And whereas professional municipal clerks continuously strive to enhance the administration of their office by actively participating in continuing educational programs and professional development opportunities. And whereas in Burlington, the office of the city clerk serves as a vital link between citizens, the city council, and the city manager's office. And whereas Burlington city clerk and deputy city clerk continuously strive to provide the highest possible level of customer service to all with whom they interact. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennet and the Burlington City Council of North of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim the week of May 3 through May 9, 2026 as Professional Municipal Clerk's Week in Burlington, North Carolina, and extend sincere appreciation to Burlington's professional municipal clerks for their invaluable service and steadfast dedication to our community. This the fifth day of May, 2026, and signed by me. ladies. You're awesome. >> Truly awesome. >> Um, also I'll just say, um, we couldn't quite pull it off the way you do because we couldn't find the right You can put it in the right place. And also there is a card here. And um so actually let me do let me do this. I get to see >> how about that. Thank you. I would like to say thank you definitely on behalf of um our office, but we really couldn't do what we do without the citizens of the community, our residents, our community. We have a passion for service and we absolutely love the people that we work with. Um it's a pleasure to come to work. It's an honor to serve you. It's an honor to serve our community and been doing it for decades and I still want to do it. I love it and she's been a great addition to the city of Burlington and she loves this community as well. So, I just want to thank you all for thinking of us and appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And at this time, I'll recognize City Clerk Beverly S for our code of ethics statement. >> Thank you. Forgot what I was supposed to do now. Members of council, it is my responsibility to remind you of your duty to avoid conflicts of interest. I ask if there are any potential conflicts concerning tonight's agenda items. >> None. >> So, we um have a few additions to the consent agenda agenda. Item L, MN, and Z and O. I almost said zero. Um and I'll just read those off to you. Uh, item L, set a date of public hearing establishing a revised storm storm water fee structure. Item M, set a date of public hearing for proposed FY202627 annual budget. Item N, set a date of public hearing for revised flood damage prevention ordinance and maps. Item O, adopt a resolution to convey air rights easements. We need a motion and a second to approve or deny the additions to the agenda. >> Motion approved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you. And um next we need a motion and a second to adopt or deny the agenda with those additions. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Our consent agenda. These items are typically non-controversial. If anyone has questions about the following items, please let us know. Um, so this is a little bit lengthy. Just just bear with me. Yes, I'll get my water close by. Um, item A to approve the reclassification of the transportation engineer and operations manager position payrade 219 to an assistant director of transportation paygrade 220 in the transportation department effective the beginning of the next pay cycle. Item B, to approve the reclassification of the assistant arboritum manager position from paygra 204 to pay grade 206 in the recreation department effective the beginning of the next pay cycle. Item C to approve the reclassification of the AR arboritum manager position paygrade 210 to urban forestry and arboritum manager paygrade 211 in the recreation department effective the beginning of the next pay cycle. Item D, to approve the reclassification of a parks concession supervisor paygrade 206 to an amusement park manager paygra 208 and the recreation department effective the beginning of the next pay cycle. Item E to approve a lease amendment and extension between the city of Burlington and North Central Alamance Fire Department Incorporated to provide updated lease conditions and extend the term of the lease for an additional 25 years. Item F to adopt a resolution approving an interlocal agreement between the city of Burlington and Alamance County for the 2025 burn justice assistant grant program award. Item G, to approve budget amendment 2026-32 for the recreation department to allocate funds received from the NCAS youth youth sports grant program designated for improvements at the Burlington BMX track. Item H to approve budget amendment 2026-33 for the police department to receive funds in accordance with the Alamance County narcotics team interlocal agreement. Item I to authorize staff to execute state economic development agreement ID number 13503 and approve budget amendment 2026-34 to disperse 1 million77 1,77,500 numbers are not my strength um for reimbursement of actual qualifying expenses to project to project Titan and to accept subsequent reimbursement from NC DOT. Item J, to approve budget amendment 2026-35 to accept reimbursements for storm water planning grant funds awarded from the state of North Carolina, Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Infrastructure for Ireland for Ireland Main Street storm water infrastructure improvements per DWI project SRP-SW-RP-000042. Item K, to approve budget amendment 2026-36 for the engineering department to continue phase three of the old city of Burlington landfill remediation plan in accordance with the NCDEQ's approved remediation plan. Item L to set a date of public hearing for June 16, 2026 to consider adoption of a revised storm water fee structure to be effective January 1, 2027. Item M to set a date of public hearing for June 2nd, 2026 to consider adoption of the proposed 2026 2027 fiscal year budget for the city of Burlington and adoption of the grant project ordinance for the 2026 27 community development program. Item N to set a date of public hearing for May 19th, 2026 to consider adopting the revised flood damage prevention ordinance and associated maps. Item O to adopt a resol a resolution to convey air rights easement to property located over parcel ID 1720001 to its current owner Carolina Hosery Mills Incorporated and authorize the mayor to execute the quick claim deed. Okay, we need a motion and second to approve or deny the consent agenda. So >> move second. >> All in favor? time. >> Thank you. At this time, we have uh this this is the time for public comments. We had no one to sign up for public comments. Um I always pause to see if anyone wants to come forward and make public comments. I see lots of finger pointing out there. Okay. Um then I I guess do we have to do a motion to close? Well, you could always ask the Elon students how correct teach >> I could, but we are pro, you know, projecting out to the community. We'll talk to them afterwards. Okay. Well, since there are no public comments, we will move to um city council comments. Um and uh so I'll just pause and see. Do we have city council comments this evening? Mayor, I uh I I think you mentioned last night, but the carousel festival really, you know, from what I could see, I attended Saturday. I could not make it Sunday, but it it was just covered up for people. It it seemed to be a success. I mean, we got the numbers on Saturdays. Uh it takes a couple of days. Uh we have a service that estimates the crowd 13,000 attendance on Saturday. And and the crowd was bigger on Sunday. warmer weather. So, I don't know what what that we'll get that tomorrow, but I don't know what it's going to be, but it should be pretty pretty big. >> Well, congratulations to all of all the departments and I've been around a long time. It takes a lot of people to put that together and I it it's really a great event and I want to thank all of you that were involved in it and uh look forward to next year. Thank you very much. >> I echo that recreation department. You know, we we sort of our event. We get a lot of help from public safety, police and fire and other city departments to uh make this a go. So, we appreciate all of >> Thank you. Other comments? >> I have a semi-lengthy comment if you'll allow. Um so, I'm going to express my opinion and my perspective. I believe it is maybe echoed by my peers and I'll let them chime in when I get done speaking for a moment. Uh so based on my 35 years experience in law enforcement and quite a bit of time here as the police chief, I want to speak to police and fire pay issues and public safety at large in the city of Burlington. And in this comment, I think at the end is a a request of staff to take some action and bring some numbers. And I'll get to that piece in a second though. So, uh, for what it's worth, the first thing that's the most important thing I'll say, I think, is that I and I think we strongly value every single city employee. Every single one of our staff members is exceptional. They do vital work. It's incredibly important to all of our citizens. I'm going to differentiate police and fire pay from the pay for everybody because of what I will articulate as our sunk costs in establishing a brand new firefighter and a brand new police officer. It costs us uh estimates vary between $50,000 and $100,000 to grow a brand new cop and a brand new firefighter. And when we lose one of those folks in the first two years, that sunk cost is gone. And so in order to say we're going to pay uh more money now to not have that churn and that cycle I think is a wise investment in the city's future. Historically uh prior to my tenure and after my tenure, even dur during my tenure, we have allowed uh police and fire pay to languish to the point that it becomes critical and then we respond with very expensive correction action programs that write the ship for a brief period of time and then we immediately begin to slip in a way that's not tenable. It's not uh an efficient program for us. So, uh, I authored a memo last week to my fellow council members advocating that we identify and set a series of kind of scientifically applied benchmarks using a 50-mi radius of police and and fire entities and agencies and right size and understand what their pay is and then establish a benchmark. And we maintain that benchmark for retention purposes and recruitment purposes. and that if we make those minor course corrections at a reasonable cost every single year, we won't have these massive recorrect kinds of issues that that are are so problematic for us. I think that we live in a fantastic city. Uh we live here, we choose to live in Burlington. The citizens want to go to sleep at night and not worry about public safety. I'm confident they don't worry about turning on their lights. I'm confident they don't worry about flushing their toilets. The trash gets picked up. All of those stable uh utilities and efforts are perfect. Um but if we compromise in some small way, police staffing and fire staffing, then folks might lose sleep and I don't think that's the appropriate place for us to be in. So all of that in that framework. Um I think we need to work to fix this. And uh with that effort, I'm going to ask staff and ask council to kind of ratify that choice to to come up with a proposal that that frames in that way. Uh for fire, I think the issue is the salaries that folks are leaving us for after the 1 to twoyear range. And in police, it's getting them in the the front door. So if you look at fire, they don't have a lot of vacancies, but police has a high number of vacancies. So, they're subtly different problems, but I think the math will work out to to stabilize both of those entities and maintain public safety. So, with that, I'll uh allow some folks to chime in or not, and then we'll see where we get. >> I second. >> Not not really something we're voting on, but yes. Um, I I think uh I I definitely am in agreement to for us to to look at at that and and make a step forward. >> I let me pick up on what Jeff said and I and I agree with his assessment and one of the very first remarks you made and I'm going to paraphrase it. He said each and every employee is critical to the operation of the city of Bronson. I want to underline that. Uh I've been around a long long time and it takes a lot of folks to run a city of this size. I've been fortunate to work with many of you. Still work with a lot of you directly and some indirectly. But first of all, I want to say thank you, you know, for what you have done. And and uh and also too, you know, our fire and police. I I agree with the concept. I I don't want to get behind again. We had to play catchup three years ago. That was a pretty big blow. Now, if we can if we can, you know, get caught up and stay even, it would be it would really be good. And I think I think it would approve well, first of all, I trust it will improve our retention, you know, because if you get good folks, not only investment, if you get good folks, you want them to stay here. You want them to have their career here. And having said that, you know, I would also ask, you know, and I don't know where it is, you know, we are in the cycle with, you know, the assessment, you know, we used to would get studies. It used to be a third, third, and a third, you know, to look at all employees. I don't know where we are with that, but what I'd like to do, not only with the police, what I'd like to do is mother took take a look across the board whenever you can. I know that's a tall order for the night. We got the budget. It's just around the corner. But if you could if you could take a look at that also, Bob, you know, I I think uh again, like I said, I just I just want to thank everybody for for what they do and and I know and I think I think everybody on this council appreciates, you know, what everybody does every day. I I I just I just don't want anybody to feel neglected or out because I I do. And uh like I said that I support what you have proposed and I would just add to that you know if we could start take a look at the you know people other than you know the police and fire you know clearly you know we'll we'll have to maybe take it in in phases and stages but uh that's all I have to say and like I said mayor you know maybe not need a motion but you certainly need you know some consensus you know so Bob can move forward >> right I do think Um, I think we're we are expressing consensus and that's that's good. >> Yeah, I'll say I agree with the statements made by my fellow council members. I think we've inherited some deferred responsibility for public safety. Um, and it's our challenging task to rectify that situation and we've, as chief mentioned, we've been through that cycle multiple times. Um, and we've constantly had to play this game with other other communities. Uh, and I think Burlington continues to dedicate itself to having the finest public across all of our departments. Uh, and this proposal sets us up to to truly stay at that point. Um, and to create some predictability and fiscal responsibility to our tax base, to our our citizens. Um, so one, they can count on their public servants and their safety, and two, they can plan for their own budgets and plan for the future that together with us. Thank you. And just for the record, we are currently in the 40th percentile for policing. So I I would like the community or if anyone reporting to to know why we are having this conversation. It was a shocker for me to have that to hear that presentation on last week and whenever the work session was and to realize that we had failed to the 40th um percentile in policing cuz I was still riding high off of 2022 when we were you know had ranked pretty high. We had gave the raises. I felt like we were in a good position. and I've served on this council probably I think I came in a year after that or maybe even the same year when the um raises took place and when we were almost fully staffed. So, thank you for bringing that information to us and letting us know where we rank so that we could get ahead of this because I will admit I did not realize it. So, thank you, Jeff, for coming up with that plan to um so we can take action and and go ahead and try to fix some things >> before it's too late and it cost the taxpayers a lot of money. >> You can't just do it one time. It's something that has to be. >> Right. Right. >> Cuz the last time was costly and our residents felt it. My family felt it personally. It happened during um the evaluations we had mentioned. though it seemed like a lot um with the increase and evaluation and everything. So I know that our citizens will appreciate um having small chunks rather than having another large bill um hit the taxes. So and thank you. One one final word, mayor, if you would, as is that uh I think a lot of us have grown to really very appreciate the level of service >> that that you know that we receive and I think to some degree, you know, we're spoiled and I'm glad I'd like to keep that at that level. So anyway, thank all of you and and uh and I think we're going to move forward. I think we've got philosophically here we're on the same sheet and I think we can think we can get some things accomplished and and really by all means I want us to keep the folks that we have because you're doing an outstanding job. Thank you mayor. If >> I could add one other thing I think one of the things I appreciate about our community is that we can both employ folks and they can live here. Uh, and it strikes me every time we do a new officer swearing in to hear the stories from these new officers about growing up in our community and the role models that they've seen within the police department and what's inspired them to choose the profession of being a police officer. Um, and not only do they get to choose that, but they get to continue to live in our community with the salary that we're able to pay them. And that is not true for many communities in North Carolina. proud that we're able to offer folks that ability to be truly dedicated to this city >> and the crime reduction. >> I was happy to hear about that. Let's put that on the record, too. Right. >> How, you know, we've had a reduction in crime by being fully staffed and I feel like for having those trainings that we do, our officers are prepared to deal with our community, it just makes everything safer. So congratulations also with that reduction in many different areas when it comes to policing and for being um fully staffed and us having that capability to to um deploy officers where they should be. I think that's been helpful for the reduction. So thank you for that also. >> Thank you. Um and and thank you all for for working together in in a model of consensus because um it is it is nice to be able to do that. Um not every uh city council is able to do that and um and we are. Uh just a couple of other things. I I want to echo the we value staff. Um it is I think the city of Burlington has amazing staff and it is it is exciting to be able to work with you and um and and to be able to advocate for you as well. So um thank you. Uh over the ever since I became mayor, so over the past few months um we have been working on storm water fees. um lots of conversation and um and this is another example of consensus of um you know having those conversations and working with the uh storm water departments and and I mean all the people uh who have worked on this and to come to a place where we we are in agreement about moving forward with a storm water fee structure and and that felt very very positive in our work session last night. Um and and that's not just us. That was that was all of us working together on that. So, thank you for that. Um just someone sent an email this week about uh drought. Um there are water restrictions happening across the state. Um had a wonderful conversation with our city manager recently and um the city of Burlington is in a good place, but that doesn't mean let your faucet run. Okay. Um it does mean that we need to conserve be personal conservation. Um be mindful of the water that you use. Um we're we are not having to do restrictions in the city of Burlington. Um and we don't want to have to. Uh and we want to keep our water levels at at the best level we can so that um when other people need that resource then then we're in a position to um do something about that as well. So, I just named that. Um, we continue to be in a fire band. So, no, um, campfires in your backyard. Um, even though the weather has been lovely for that, no campfires in the backyard. Um, so there are a few, uh, upcoming events. Uh, this month we start our fourth Fridays series. Um, that's uh, after our next council meeting, but that will be coming up on May 22nd. Um, our next council meeting is May 19th. you heard there are some public hearings that have been set for that date. Um so uh just be aware of that and and plan to come back and participate in it. Uh other announcements. Are there any other announcements? >> I'll just briefly mention the mayor and I are attending national or North Carolina League of Municipalities City Vision uh tomorrow and Thursday in Raleigh. Um, as we mentioned, there's a couple challenges that we're facing, but so are other communities across North Carolina and elected leaders from across the state are coming together for a couple days in Raleigh to both learn and share. And so I appreciate us both being able to go and represent our council and bring back good information. >> Um, and I was there this afternoon and um, met with the metro mayors and that that was a good event as well. So we'll continue that tomorrow and Thursday. Thank you all. Other announcements? Anything else before we go? >> I'd like to one thing a lot of people may not know about. We have a pro soccer team in Burlington. They're called Burlington United. They'll be playing at the Fairchild soccer fields across the road athletic stadium. Their first game tonight and so just wanted to get that in we're glad to have >> that is Saturday I believe. >> Yes. Very good. >> Thank you so much for sharing that. >> If there is nothing else, I need a motion and a second to adjurnn. >> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you all. Thank you.